Tag: video

YETI Case Study

Posted on by Ankita Gogoi

YETI uses Overcast Max to upgrade international video creation and distribution.

Introduction

YETI is an American manufacturer specialising in outdoor products such as ice chests, vacuum-insulated stainless-steel drinkware, soft coolers, and related accessories. The YETI brand has come to symbolise an active, premium, authentic lifestyle. The YETI content team works globally across all major markets. With demand increasing for content across YETI platforms such as Instagram and YouTube, as well as more traditional methods of broadcasting, YETI saw the need to upgrade their solution for managing their media appropriately.

Arlo Rosner

Executive Producer, YETI COOLERS

Bringing together our marketing and production teams through workflow has made new campaigns much more nimble: all video is now stored in one place and easily accessible by all content creators. Everything from original RAW files to finished films and videos. We could never do this previously with other DAM solutions. All of our global departments can now easily access our video content in a way that was impossible previously – this allows us to make better content, faster and with greater continuity across channels and regions.

The Challenge

The YETI team realised they needed to replace numerous hard drives and antiquated equipment with a secure, cloud-native, and searchable indexed collection of finished media assets. They needed to replace separate systems across different departments with an intuitive searchable solution, that provided a single point of truth and allowed access from anywhere in the world for remote working. Critically they wanted a solution that was intuitive for all users in the YETI marketing organisation.

The Solution

With Overcast, YETI undoubtedly saved time spent in handling media but also took their media asset management to next level.

  • Overcast MAX delivers remote collaboration, search, review and approval and archive management. The solution is delivered through a web portal and thus is accessible remotely and from any device. 
  • YETI found synergy within Overcast MAX’s overriding ethos of simplicity of use, much like their own products. With an intuitive user interface (UI), Overcast met YETI’s need to make this a creative and technical operating system, with no prior technical knowledge required by staff. 
  • YETI initially planned to restrict the use of the Overcast MAX video platform for live production management. But they soon realised that Overcast MAX could manage all their content. And now they are in the process of ingesting more than half a million video files and making the platform available for all staff.

Results

  • Over half a million video files ingested
  • Storage cost reduced by upto 80%
  • 10x faster processing from post to publishing

The YETI Content Hub continues to evolve with Overcast with a feature roadmap that includes new AI capabilities and automation.

Diageo Case Study

Posted on by Ankita Gogoi

In just 6 months Diageo have been able to reframe their global video experience and empower teams around the world to do in minutes what used to take days, weeks and even months.

Introduction

Diageo is a global leader in premium drinks with more than 200 brands. With a HQ in London, Diageo employs more than 30,000 people globally and is the home to much loved brands like Johnnie Walker, Guinness and newcomers like Tanqueray 0.0.
Diageo is obsessed with building brands and telling great stories. Creativity with precision describes how they effectively combine data, insights and innovation with creative flair to build stories around some of the world’s most iconic brands. In just 6 months, Diageo have been able to reframe their global video experience by empowering creative teams around the world to do in minutes what used to take day, weeks and even months.

The Challenge

Like many premium brands, Diageo shifted its marketing focus to omni-channel campaigns with an emphasis on video. Despite working with leading creatives, campaign processes were still old-fashioned, time consuming and costly. Workflows simply had not caught up with the times. To top it off, there was no centralised storage. Agencies controlled the content that Diageo owned the rights to, yet each agency had a different way of storing the content – some on hard drives, some on desktops and some clouds like Dropbox. Diageo knew they needed better control of their video assets if they
were going to scale their video operations. And they also wanted to use the latest data technologies like AI tagging and transcription to empower
their teams to find content no matter where they were in the world.

The Solution

The cloud-native Overcast Video Hub is now a core component of the Diageo Content Hub which also includes a cloud-native DAM. Diageo’s content teams and 60+ agencies ingest, store, collaborate on and archive all video marketing campaign material. All content is now controlled centrally.

  • An intuitive user interface meets Diageo’s need to make the system creative and operator-friendly – designed to be used by creatives, producers and staff with no prior technical knowledge.
  • All content is tagged using AI to make it possible to search within the videos and eliminating hours and days of scrolling through content.
  • Reuse targets have been set to extract additional value from rights owned content dramatically reducing costs and aligning with ESG strategies.

Results

  • 500k+ videos ingested and AI tagged
  • £1m saved in first 6 months
  • 60+ agencies & 1,500+ marketers onboarded.

The Diageo Content Hub continues to evolve with Overcast with a feature roadmap that includes new AI capabilities and automation.

Overcast Industry Insights: The Evolution of Media Creation

Posted on by Fiona Ashe

Ever-increasing demand for content. Ineffective legacy technology. Remote
collaboration challenges. Difficulty scaling up. These are just some of the
big issues facing the media industry today.

MovieLabs
— a technology joint venture of the major Hollywood studios, including
Walt Disney Studios,
Universal Pictures,
Warner Bros,
Paramount Pictures
and
Sony Pictures
— says that our industry is at a crossroads. There is a time-critical need
for executives to become more aware of supporting the future of media
creation and to invest in it. So, they have written an
Urgent Memo to the C-Suite: Investing In Production Technology and
Cloud Centricity Is No Longer An Option — It is Table Stakes.

MovieLabs has already developed a roadmap to creating the next-generation
ecosystem for media creation. Its 2030 Vision describes technological
advances that will enable seismic changes in media workflows and proposes
ten foundational principles as keys to that future. MovieLabs published case
studies of technology solutions that fulfil one or more of those principles
from
AWS,
Skywalker Sound, Walt Disney Studios, Sony, PFT, Overcast and
ProductionPro. Overcast provides Full Stack Video Management that radically improves
cloud production and post-production workflows through automation and
simplification.

This article delves into the trends and strategic imperatives outlined in
MovieLabs’ Urgent Memo to the C Suite and reveals how the Cloud MAM
solution that Overcast designed for Britain’s
Royal Opera House
fulfills those strategic imperatives.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the five key trends that MovieLabs identifies
as having a significant impact on media creation and that underpin the need
for commitment, support and investment in cloud-centric production
technologies and secure, interoperable workflows.

Trend 1: There is a growing urgency for scaled high-quality global
content production.

Traditionally, Hollywood content was distributed in overseas territories.
However, streamers have tapped into a growing appetite amongst viewers for
local language and local cultural content. Such content is created by local
production companies, but the streamers’ workflows and quality requirements
are foreign to many of these companies, which creates problems.

Trend 2: As release windows are evolving, distribution models are no
longer one size fits all.

The success of a movie used to hinge on its opening weekend box office.
However, the pandemic ushered in a new era of hybrid release strategies,
such as ‘day-and-date’ (where a film is simultaneously released in cinemas
and on streaming platforms), shorter exclusive theatrical runs, and
direct-to-consumer distribution. These have a major impact on production,
post production and delivery supply chains.

Trend 3: Productions are becoming more complex — what we did in the past
won’t work in the future.

With a wealth of cameras, creative tools and new production processes (such
as virtual production), film/TV/video production is becoming more complex.
We’re in a new era of “snowflake workflows”, whereby technological and
creative innovations make each workflow unique…like the individual shape of
a snowflake. While this is fantastic for content creators, the increasing
complexity of workflows coupled with the challenges of global distribution
and teams working remotely means that current practices just won’t and can’t
scale.

Trend 4: Connected, creative remote collaboration has become the new normal,
and it’s here to stay.

The pandemic was a baptism of fire for film, TV and video teams who were
accustomed to collaborating in purpose-built spaces but were suddenly thrust
into a situation where they had to work from home and collaborate virtually.
But, despite the initial shockwaves, it has turned out to be a positive
change. Creatives have more flexibility in where to work and this production
style will drive efficiency. Cloud-enabled collaboration tools will be the
key to scaling global productions.

Trend 5: Technology is evolving extremely fast, and the vendor landscape is
being disrupted.

An increasingly-connected production ecosystem is migrating to the cloud
while traditional methods of post production are consolidating and
contracting. Virtual production technologies and the democratization of
tools have created new “pop up” services, thus disrupting the vendor
landscape. Cheaper cloud-based business models are enabling new start ups to
avoid the enormous capital expenditure required in years gone by and
facilitates the ‘rental’ of tools, tech and talent as needed.

How is media creation evolving?

How is media creation evolving?

The future of content creation is full of exciting opportunities! But,
according to MovieLabs’ Urgent Memo to the C-Suite:

“We must design, create and implement a future-facing technical
pipeline to address the real challenges and opportunities to produce
content at quality, scale and across production locations and global
markets.”

So, back to the MovieLabs 2030 Vision. As we move towards realizing it,
there are three strategic imperatives that underpin the operational,
financial and strategic planning at all media organizations. Let’s unpack
them and examine how Overcast’s Cloud MAM solution for the Royal Opera House
(ROH) fulfill those imperatives.

1. Planning a multi-cloud strategy

Moving to the cloud is the foundation of achieving media creation at scale.
Benefits include almost unlimited storage and computer resources, a
pay-as-you-go business model, and a creative collaboration environment that
eliminates the unnecessary duplication of media assets. This “single source
of truth” principle is central to Overcast’s media management platform.

But MovieLabs deems that cloud is not enough anymore. It’s time to move to
‘multi-cloud’ (multiple vendors and a vast number of interconnected tools
and workflows). This is essential to complex content creation at scale and
the ability to pivot creative and distribution strategies and choices.

One of the foundational principles of MovieLabs’ 2030 Vision states that
assets go to the cloud and stay there, with applications coming to the
media. Today’s workflows span multiple facilities and move assets between
organizations and public/private clouds. To benefit from scalability, speed
and flexibility in a multi-cloud world, studios must collaborate with
industry stakeholders — including cloud providers — to create open
interfaces that connect silos.

Overcast enabled ROH to adopt a cloud-first strategy, which has delivered
more efficient ways of working: reviewing live rehearsals in real-time
remotely; automatically time-coding editorial reviews and approvals for ease
of decision-making; providing secure role-based permissions for freelancers
and ad-hoc users; and the integration or phased shuttering of legacy
on-premise technology solutions.

Through Overcast’s Cloud MAM solution, ROH created a single repository for
video content across all of its constituencies (the Royal Opera House, The
Royal Ballet and the ROH Orchestra). All of the ROH editors and producers
work from that single repository and can stream content to both internal and
external audiences by publishing links to it. A major advantage is that the
system is easy to use for non-technical collaborators (dancers, singers,
clients, sponsors).

2. Adopting a new approach to security

Erecting a fence and installing CCTV at your premises is a logical approach
to security…except if all of your content is hosted in the cloud by third
parties. So, how do we protect cloud-native workflows? We need a new
security mindset.

Overcast’s Cloud MAM enables ROH to give authorized users searchable access
to their library of assets and the ability to share retrieved content by
emailing links to other authorized users, such as dance notation experts who
work all over the world. The ability to share assets securely has enabled
new remote workflows that save on in-person or travel costs.

3. Enabling flexible workflows with increased automation and
interoperability

Time is of the essence when turning around creative projects. But precious
time can be wasted if your teams’ remote collaboration isn’t optimal.
Production workflows must become more flexible, extensible and easier to
assemble.

Automating simple tasks saves production oodles of time. Overcast has
integrated AWS AI tools such as Transcribe, Translate, and Recognition for
metadata tagging and subsequent search and retrieval. In its Cloud MAM for
ROH, these tools automate metadata tagging for bulk ingest, including
tagging of musical scores, leading players, and video attributes, freeing up
editors from these mundane tasks and allowing them instead to weave their
creative magic into the edit.

Future-proofing media management

Overcast believes that managing video files should be as easy as managing a
Word document. Its cloud native Full Stack Video Management is simple to
use, secure, and empowers teams to make, share and publish more content,
faster. Overcast echoes MovieLab’s call for commitment, support and
investment by C-Suite executives and also its vision of a studio and
industry ecosystem that will more readily enable future content forms and
business opportunities.

Get a free demo

Whatever challenges you are having with managing your media projects,
especially video, Overcast can improve your workflow and save you time and
money. We would be delighted to give you a free demo of our platform.
Click here to request a demo.

How Enterprises Are Creating Video More Easily

Posted on by Fiona Ashe

The old way of creating video is broken

There’s no denying the domination of video with more than two billion monthly active users on YouTube and one billion on TikTok.

In our last post, we looked at trends in the acceleration of video management technology, which is driven by factors such as remote working, the ever-increasing demand for streaming content, and the rise of video content creators.

However, the ‘players’ who are creating video — streamers, creators, and enterprises — have had to face the reality that the old way of working with video simply isn’t viable anymore.

The impact of the pandemic on creating video

The pandemic sent video creators and enterprise employees scuttling back to their houses where they had to rustle up home offices. That, in itself, was a challenge but then they faced the hair-tearing-out problems of collaborating remotely on video projects: how to find clips they needed, how to enable shared access to different versions, how to get reviews/approvals, how to execute simple edits, etc.

Streamers and video creators scrambled to find technological solutions to these challenges. Initially, these were solutions designed to “get by”. But now the new, more efficient media pipeline management workflows are being adopted as the new status quo, and technology has improved to fulfil those needs.

The result of that technological innovation is proven: Silverwood Partners’ Media Technology: Strategic Industry Analysis 2022 states that 84% of businesses reported their company’s video content output increased over a 12-month period in 2020/2021.

That trend is set to continue: the report also illustrated that in the subsequent 12 months, 44% anticipating a significant increase.

How video technology is improving

Traditionally video content creation, broadcasting and distribution required skilled practitioners and specialist equipment. But there’s a growing demand for technology that simplifies those processes and makes them accessible to people who don’t have video production experience: 83% of respondents quoted in the report believe their company would create more video content if technology made it easier to do so.

However, “easy” doesn’t mean “low quality”. Consumers demand high-quality video, so creators are seeking technologies that facilitate them to make professional-grade content to integrate into a tech stack, as illustrated in Silverwood Partners’ report:

How to manage your media pipeline

A media asset management platform empowers your team to collaborate on video projects effortlessly. Overcast’s SaaS platform future-proofs your video production operation, and you can simulate your costs before investing.

We’d be delighted to give you a demo of our platform — please click here to request one.

Trends in the Acceleration of Video Management Technology

Posted on by Fiona Ashe

Trends in Media Technology

Are digital natives planning to take over the world? You may well think so if you look at the media technology industry, where trends support an increasingly digital-native economy, as outlined in Silverwood Partners’ Media Technology: Strategic Industry Analysis 2022.

Video Production in a Remote Working Era

The COVID pandemic jump-started an era of mass remote working, which meant that content creators — who rely on collaborative processes — struggled with video management: searching for clips, reviews and approvals, tracking assets, transcoding, etc. This accelerated technological innovation…as tech companies raced to meet the needs of a broad range of video creators and media companies. 

The Streaming Wars


The confinement of people to their homes led to another disruptive influence: audience numbers for streaming content skyrocketed. En masse, viewers cut the cord with traditional broadcasters and turned their eyeballs to Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Hulu and other streamers.

Upsurge in Video Marketing

Throughout 2021 the demand for content seeped into almost every industry and, in response, the creator economy became more sophisticated.

We’ve seen a significant increase in recent years in the numbers of digital-native ‘influencers’ and professional video creators as they build their personal brand through video. Add to that the rise and rise of video marketing among enterprises, and you get the picture: technology had to ‘fly fast’.

So, it was time to wave goodbye to video files stored on hard drives and face-to-face teamwork —  it was time to embrace the cloud! Remote collaboration became a reality and will need to be a key part of enterprise strategy going forward.

Video Technology Innovation

Top-tier broadcasters and OTT providers require innovative media technology to differentiate themselves and fight for market share. The battle of the streamers is red hot after Netflix recently announced that it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 and expects to lose two million more in the second quarter. 

Enterprises and video creators are also operating in a very competitive environment. Broadcast-grade technology such as Overcast’s video management platform — which facilitates effortless collaboration and an efficient workflow — will be essential to their survival.

Request A Demo


We’d be delighted to give you a demo of our platform — please click here to request one.

Overcast Featured in DPP Media Supply Festival 2021

Posted on by Overcast HQ

Overcast was featured in the DPP Media Supply Festival Demo Zone over the 7th and 8th of September.
We presented our demo alongside the best media providers from around the world and you can find our Media Pipeline Management demo video below:

Check out our Blog Posts.

Check out our New Updates.

Get in touch with us

If you are looking for a bespoke video workflow solution and want to learn more, please get in touch with Overcast CEO Philippe Brodeur — he’s always happy to talk! You can reach him on info@overcasthq.com or through the contact form on our website.

Zahra – a case study

Posted on by Overcast HQ

The following is a brief introduction to our Zahra Case Study which can be viewed in full below.

Zahra is a full-service content agency with owned media in the Food and Parenting verticals. Their mission is to connect brands with audiences through the creation and distribution of purposeful content.

“The review and approval process within Overcast has made it a lot clearer for everyone who is working on the project: clients, videographer, our team. It’s so helpful being able to compare older to newer versions side-by-side using timecodes.” 

— Alan Breslin, Production Coordinator, Zahra Media Group.

The Challenge 

“Content was stored in multiple locations which meant that things were difficult to find. This wasted SO MUCH TIME. It made collaboration (within the team and with clients) difficult because so much time would be spent trying to transfer enormous files. 

— Gina Miltiadou, Managing Director, Zahra Media Group

We needed a space that we could use internally and have versions 1, 2, 3 — and a place for continuing versions to be easily accessed by clients. If we are in a V3 stage and they decide if we want to use something from V1, we need to be able to access it.

— Alan Breslin, Production Coordinator, Zahra Media Group.

The Solution 

Overcast was able to help them with their folder management and metadata taxonomy. Then we trained up the various teams — client services, editorial, etc. — to show them how they too could manage the content in the cloud.

The Result 

After a few weeks of adapting to the new workflows, more people have been able to become part of the video creation supply chain. Editors now get to spend more time working on what they want to work on — great content. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise has been how it has helped client relations and experiences. By getting access to centralised content, an easy-to-use interface, semantic search and a well-defined audit trail, they are also able to engage in a clearer and more productive manner.

You can read the full Zahra case study here.

You can also view our other case studies here. 

Godolphin – a case study

Posted on by Overcast HQ

The following is a brief introduction to our Godolphin Case Study which can
be viewed in full below.

The following is a brief introduction to our Godolphin Case Study which
can be viewed in full below. </em >

Introducing a more streamlined, user-friendly system has enabled Godolphin’s
global teams to find and share content easily. Managing content is now
straightforward — anyone can find the pictures and videos they need for
marketing collateral, when they need it, and so much faster!

“The personal touch from Philippe, Zsolt and George in teaching us how to
use the system and fixing a couple of network errors has been incredible.
Their support in helping us meet Godolphin’s needs confirms that we made the
right choice in Overcast.” — Alexandra Bailey, Media
Manager, CPL

The Challenge:

Having four different storage systems led to several inefficiencies,
including remembering how to use each platform and where to find assets.

“We needed a really good filing system that met people’s expectations when
they were searching and didn’t lead them down a massive rabbit hole.”

The Solution: 

During the planning phase, Overcast worked with Godolphin and CPL to
standardise the descriptive metadata fields across the four platforms. They
then introduced a unique ID system and built an ingest solution using APIs
that could map all of the intelligence into a single, unified system.

The Result for Godolphin:

Time-saving: Content is ingested from around the world in
real-time.

Cost Saving: The consolidation from four separate platforms
to one has reduced subscription fees, training people to use them, and
overheads required.

Security: Content is centralised in a single location so it
can never go missing, and the content is accessed through a secure
login.

Revenue: With more people being able to access more images,
the plan over the coming years for Godolphin is to drive sales using more
sophisticated content marketing.

Video Production (Part 2): Filming Your Enterprise Video

Posted on by Fiona Ashe

Video production

It’s said that video content is made three times: once in the scripting, once in the filming, and once in the editing.

In the first part of this blog post series, we delved into the planning stage of video production: identifying your audience, scripting and shoot prep. 

In this second part of our blog post series on video production, we’ll give you tips and tricks for a successful shoot.

Choosing your shooting format

You’ve probably heard plenty of publicity about 4K — and that PR might influence you to believe that you need to shoot in 4K. 

If you are creating content that will be screened in cinemas or on an UHD (ultra high definition) TV channel, then you will need that 4K resolution, which is four times higher than HD (high definition) resolution. 

4K is very accessible — even smartphones will film at this resolution — but you need to factor a few things into consideration when planning your shoot: the amount of storage (and back up) space required, the bitrate required for colour grading, data speeds for transferring video files, speed of playback in your edit suite, etc.

So, if you are shooting a promo video for online distribution, it would be worth having a chat with your videographer and editor about whether HD (1080p) would be a better fit for you.

Filming

The preparation that you did throughout the pre-production phase will significantly influence the success of your shoot.

  • Shooting style: Your storyboards and shot lists will inform everyone on your team about the style of shots that you want to capture. If you want to create a fast-paced video with lots of cuts, you might choose to film static shots. Whereas if you are trying to create a calm, relaxing atmosphere in your video — for example, if you are promoting a seaside resort — you might choose lots of movement within shots (pans, tilts and tracking shots). 
  • Lighting: Another key element of the style of your video will be lighting. If you are shooting interviews, the standard style is three-point lighting, which creates a slight shadow on half of the interviewee’s face. There are very distinctive lighting styles used in films; however, these are rarely used in enterprise videos. If you are shooting guerrilla-style without artificial lights, you can still leverage natural light to create contrast within your frame. A note of caution, though: although most modern cameras handle low light conditions very well, the footage will look grainier than if filmed with plenty of light.
  • Directing the on-screen talent: If you are the director, you’ll need to direct the performances of the cast, for example, if you need them to be more animated, or calmer, or speak more slowly, etc.It’s important to ensure there is continuity from one shot to another, for example, if an actor’s hair is tidy in the first shot, ensure it is not tossed by the wind in the second shot — unless the first shot is in a building and the second shot is on a beach. Otherwise, you’ll run into problems in editing.If an actor/interviewee is delivering lines or speaking on camera, you’ll need to do multiple takes to ensure you get the performance you want. It will probably require a few takes for the actor/interviewee to settle into the performance. Patience is a virtue!
  • Order of filming: You may need to shoot the scenes out of order. For example, if your first and last shots are in the same location, it’s more efficient to shoot these consecutively. It’s best to consult with your crew in advance of the shoot to devise a filming schedule. Unexpected things can delay the progress of the shoot (weather, road works, etc.) so it’s a good idea to shoot the most important shots first, so that if you run out of time and can’t film the last few shots, you can still edit the video in a way that’s close to your original vision.

Next step: editing

So, once the shoot is over, you’re ready to take it to the edit suite, where a new type of storytelling magic will happen. 

In our next blog post, we’ll delve into the post production process, including how to collaborate effectively with your team on video projects.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do reach out on info@overcasthq.com or click here to contact us. We’d be very happy to answer any questions you have about managing video production effortlessly!

Can An Enterprise DAM Manage Video?

Posted on by Philippe Brodeur

Why you need an enterprise DAM?

We are in a golden age of video as a business tool — it’s no longer used just for marketing but for many other business functions too: sales, corporate communications, training, testimonials, and much more.

Combined with this proliferation of video benefits for enterprises, the democratisation of video has made video a “must have” rather than a “nice to have”. 

Why are video files problematic?

Video, until recently, was a very specialised craft that was handled by editors and engineers. They traditionally used a MAM — Media Asset Manager — to store, share and manage their content.  MAMs are different from DAMs — Digital Asset Managers — in that they deal only with video content.  

What most enterprise DAM vendors won’t tell you is that DAMs were never built for managing video. They all claim that they do. But the reality is that the amount of resources, storage and compute power needed to manage video content is considerably greater than what is needed for images and documents — and ALL traditional DAMs lack the necessary technology to manage video content properly. 

The thing is: now there is a need to enable business teams to manage video content as easily as images and word documents but the workflows just aren’t there.

Video files are large…ahem, very large. If you decide to work with 4K (which most brands and advertisers do), they could be ginormous! And they are complex: there are so many formats that it can be tricky to create the right format for your chosen destination (e.g. a social platform, a website, a mobile device, etc.) This is precisely why they are difficult to manage.

The result is that organisations develop workarounds. Solutions that are, frankly, okay but not really scalable. They save video content on external hard drives; store them under a desk somewhere. Share content via WeTransfer or YouSendIt. None of this is native to managing other files — but we make an exception for video.  

Ultimately, that means that finding a video clip involves manual searching under desks for the external drive, manual scrolling through oodles of footage, and ultimately wasting a tonne of time. 

Video considerations when investing in a DAM

If it’s your company’s first time investing in a DAM and you want it to manage video, then it’s best not to look at the legacy providers. Some have partnered with video specialists to better manage video content, but it is not core to what they do and this can lead to issues down the road.

When evaluating an enterprise DAM provider, make sure to assess your video needs. There are many workflows that are similar to those for images and documents, but they can’t be managed in the same way. For example, you can easily ingest a large batch of images taken at a photoshoot. But let’s say you have an hour of raw video footage — how do you plan to ingest that and how are you going to share it with your colleagues? Answer: you’ll need completely different infrastructure to an image workflow and it will likely include a cloud network if you want to do it right.

Think of your KPIs — your key needs may be finding files quickly, avoiding duplication of video files, operating from a “single source of truth”, tracking versions of projects, and outputting to multiple video file formats. These are modern video workflows that the majority of DAMs do not support. 

What if you already have an enterprise DAM?

You may already have a DAM that is struggling to manage your video content. So you go to the market looking for something new. It can be confusing. Vendors will try to sell you lots of solutions:  MAM (Media Asset Manager), PAM (Production Asset Manager), CMS (Content Management System), or an ECM (Enterprise Content Manager). They are all valid — but they are unlikely to be what you are looking for. 

Transitioning from legacy DAM technology to something that can manage your video assets can be a real challenge. The least expensive way to do it is to integrate a video solution that can operate with your DAM. If you can’t find that, then best make the change. 

Taking the leap to the cloud

There really is only one answer when it comes to managing video content: move to the cloud. When moving workflows to the cloud, the big question on people’s minds usually is: “How much is this going to cost me?”

We found that none of the tools on the market accurately answered that question. Different cloud solutions have different calculators, but they are not very accurate because they never take into account the full compute cost. For example, let’s say you have 100 TB of video stored in the cloud and you have a single archivist managing it. Then let’s imagine you have the same amount of storage, but 1,000 people all accessing it, sharing it, posting to social, etc.  Same storage — very different cost!

So, we built Overcast Max Simulator to allow you to run a real-time simulation of your video workflows, which helps you to understand the costs of storing and managing your content in the cloud. 

Return on investment is slightly trickier to calculate but you can read one of our business case studies, which clearly demonstrates savings in terms of time and cost in addition to potential revenue generation.

What can Overcast do for you that others can’t?

Overcast is a Video Content-as-a-Service platform. We’re based on AWS (Amazon Web Services). We are a team of video experts who worked in TV and are now helping non-TV people to manage their content.  The platform is built specifically to integrate with DAMs by providing a microservice architecture that allows enterprise businesses to scale their video workflows in their own time.  

Find out more

We recognise that all of this technology and jargon can be confusing, so if you’d like to have a chat about your particular challenges and how to solve them, please do get in touch with our CEO Philippe on info@overcasthq.com or click here to get in touch — he’d be happy to answer any questions you have. 

The Secret To Great Remote Working Video Collaboration

Posted on by Fiona Ashe

Remote Working Video Collaboration

Innovation is essential in today’s fast-changing technology-dependent business environment. An ever-increasing number of companies are using video for marketing, sales, internal communications, training, tutorials, and many more business functions.
But video requires collaboration and we’re in an age where remote working is more the norm than the exception. So, how can teams collaborate effortlessly on video if they are in separate locations? Introducing

DPP Innovation Week

At DPP Innovation Week 2021, Overcast CEO Philippe Brodeur made a presentation about Media Workflows — in a line-up that included Red Bee Media, Reuters, PBS, BBC, RTÉ, ZDF (German broadcaster), BT, Signiant, and A+E Networks.

In just 3 minutes, Philippe explains how your team can collaborate on and manage video easily and cost-effectively. 

Get in touch

Overcast provides services at all budget levels. So, to find out more and get a demo, contact us on  info@overcasthq.com or click here to get in touch. We look forward to making your life easier!

Cloud Storage: How To Stop Paying Ridiculous Margins

Posted on by Fiona Ashe

Overcast MAX #2: Max Storage

Why use video?

The popularity of video consumption continues to explode and not just for marketing or brand building purposes. Video can also be used in-house for employee training and dissemination of information — this is even more valid in the current era of enforced remote working. 

The possibilities that video offers your business are endless: connecting with your audience through live streaming, creating interactive videos to engage your followers, explainer videos/tutorials, product demonstrations, communicating with stakeholders, promotional videos, broadcasting live events, vlogging and much more.

Size matters

Video files are large — but how big is big? 

  • 1 bit (b) = only capable of storing a single binary digit: either a 1 or 0.
  • 1 byte (B) = 8 bits … about what you need to store a single character of text. 
  • 1 kilobyte (KB) = 1,024 bytes … it takes around 10 KB to store a single page of plain text.
  • 1 megabyte (MB) = 1,024 KB … the equivalent of a 400-page book.
  • 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1,024 MB … streaming Netflix Ultra HD video uses about 7 GB per hour.
  • 1 terabyte (TB) = 1,024 GB … equivalent to 500 hours worth of movies.
  • 1 petabyte (PB) = 1,024 TB … one year of CCTV video for an average police department amounts to 1.5 PB.
  • 1 exabyte (EB) = 1,024 PB … 5 EB is equivalent to all the words ever spoken by humankind.

— How To Geek

So, the more videos you create, the more storage you’ll need (although you don’t need to worry about exabytes unless you are Amazon, Google or Facebook).

Max Storage

In light of these unwieldy sizes of video files, the traditional method of handling them on premise is no longer viable. So, if you want to make your teams’ video management and collaboration much more efficient, you can either manage your workflows in the cloud or use a hybrid solution that conforms to your workflows.

Benefits of Max Storage

Cost Optimisation

As we mentioned in an earlier blog post outlining Overcast MAX, Max Storage is like a BYOB (bring your own bottle) party. BYO Storage means you keep your unique account with AWS and our software will help you to manage your content! 

Our hybrid solutions will sync with your on-premise servers: you can automatically upload your content to your account and be guaranteed secure cloud workflows.

Intelligent tiering also allows you optimise your costs based on your user actual activities, so you’ll save oodles of spondulicks!

Metadata Enrichment

Artificial intelligence is the new sliced bread…although you can’t put chocolate spread on it! 

But you can benefit from AI functions such as Transcribe and Image Recognition to add metadata — this will ensure you can search your content quickly and accurately using time-based parameters.

Future-proofed content

Technology is changing so fast these days that it’s hard to keep up and even harder to future-proof your content. But Max Storage is on the case. We will store your originals and create proxies that can be viewed on any device. 

No problem with codecs either: your content will be available over any network.

Get in touch

If you have any questions about storage, live streaming or any of the Overcast MAX solutions, please do get in touch. Philippe would be happy to chat through your video collaboration and management needs — you can reach him on info@overcasthq.com or you can click here to contact us.

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